Akkadian Cuneiform
Hoon Sagong
NR EAST & ASIAN M20 – Section 1H
Professor Robert K. Englund
Term Paper
May 22nd 2013
Los Angeles County Museum of Arts, or so-called LACMA, is one of the most prominent museums the US, having numerous historical artifacts in its possession. In LACMA, what seizes people’s attention the most are 10 feet tall reliefs of Assyrian kings and gods, covered with texts inscribed in cuneiform. The royal Neo-Assyrian relief found in Nimrud, the capital city of ancient Assyrian Empire, reveals that cuneiform was widely used as a medium of propaganda, sometimes over its function as a record of information.
The texts in the royal Assyrian reliefs are written in Akkadian cuneiform. Invented in the Fertile Crescent region, cuneiform is inarguably the most ancient writing system ever known in human history. The writing system originates from relatively simple signs that were presumably coined around 3300B.C. for accounting purpose. Along with the development of civilization, economic productivity in the Fertile Crescent increased exponentially, leading to the expansion of trade even beyond the Mesopotamian region. First inscribed on clay tokens, the seemingly pictographic signs got to be written in more improved medium such as bullae and finally clay tablet that can harbor more complicated information. Also Cuneiform adapted to more progressive structures that later turns into syllabic and eventually alphabetic writing system. The cuneiform was first used by Sumerians, and then it wide spread throughout the region and was later adopted by numerous ethnic groups headed by Babylonians and Assyrians. The adaptation process created Akkadian cuneiform which is basically distinct from its predecessor.
From 10th to 7th century B.C., after Assyrians survived from the invasion of the Sea People which is barely recorded nor preserved in oral transmission, they rapidly expanded their realm and established the empire. According to Albenda, Assyrians were brutal
NR EAST & ASIAN M20 – Section 1H
Professor Robert K. Englund
Term Paper
May 22nd 2013
Los Angeles County Museum of Arts, or so-called LACMA, is one of the most prominent museums the US, having numerous historical artifacts in its possession. In LACMA, what seizes people’s attention the most are 10 feet tall reliefs of Assyrian kings and gods, covered with texts inscribed in cuneiform. The royal Neo-Assyrian relief found in Nimrud, the capital city of ancient Assyrian Empire, reveals that cuneiform was widely used as a medium of propaganda, sometimes over its function as a record of information.
The texts in the royal Assyrian reliefs are written in Akkadian cuneiform. Invented in the Fertile Crescent region, cuneiform is inarguably the most ancient writing system ever known in human history. The writing system originates from relatively simple signs that were presumably coined around 3300B.C. for accounting purpose. Along with the development of civilization, economic productivity in the Fertile Crescent increased exponentially, leading to the expansion of trade even beyond the Mesopotamian region. First inscribed on clay tokens, the seemingly pictographic signs got to be written in more improved medium such as bullae and finally clay tablet that can harbor more complicated information. Also Cuneiform adapted to more progressive structures that later turns into syllabic and eventually alphabetic writing system. The cuneiform was first used by Sumerians, and then it wide spread throughout the region and was later adopted by numerous ethnic groups headed by Babylonians and Assyrians. The adaptation process created Akkadian cuneiform which is basically distinct from its predecessor.
From 10th to 7th century B.C., after Assyrians survived from the invasion of the Sea People which is barely recorded nor preserved in oral transmission, they rapidly expanded their realm and established the empire. According to Albenda, Assyrians were brutal
Bibliography: John Huehnergard and Christopher Woods, “Akkadian and Eblaite”, The Ancient Languages of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Aksum, Ed. Roger D. Woodard, Cambridge University Press, 2008. 83 Russell, John Malcom, "The Program of the Palace of Assurnasirpal II at Nimrud: Issues in the Research and Presentation of Assyrian Art". American Journal of Archeology, 1998. 655–715 Christopher Johnston, The Sumero-Akkadian Question, 1893. 317-322 Pauline Albenda, A Syro-Palestinian City on a Ninth Century B. C. Assyrian Relief, 1972. 46 J. E. Reade, The Neo-Assyrian Court and Army: Evidence from the Sculptures, 1972. 87-112